


How to Steal the Stars

by moji964



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Angst, Unreliable Narrator, Watcher AU, Watcher Grian, Watcher!Grian, Watchers in the “you no longer exist” sense, but not like. ATUS’s watchers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25141573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moji964/pseuds/moji964
Summary: A Comprehensive Guide on how to Slowly Kill the Universe because of your own Selfish Desires, by Grian.
Relationships: no - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 113





	1. Prologue

It was a slow, insidious thing really.

The type of thing that crept slowly, sneaking up without making a sound.

Well.

Not making a sound until it was a little too late.

And, really, how was anyone going to notice?

Who cared about the nameless stars that dotted the night sky, the ones excluded from popular constellations, the dull stars- the lonely ones.

The stars of far-off galaxies that were too distant to really care about.

Who noticed them?

So it should come as no surprise that no one realised when the first star went missing.

That was a lie. He  _ hoped _ no one realised when the first star went missing.


	2. The Test They Failed

The biggest misconception about the End was that it was in the sky.  
That if you flew high enough, had enough rockets and a durable enough elytra, you’d make it into the world of yellow end stone and towering cities.

If you tried that, you’d never reach the End.

Unlike the nether that’s just below the bedrock of the over world, the End was not accessible by simply travelling far enough.

You couldn’t just make a portal to the End either. You had to find it.

Or you had to be summoned there.

Grian was all too familiar with the latter.  
Every time he found himself standing at the portal, the eyes of Ender blinking up at him from their slots in the frame, the swirling galaxies that danced in front of him, every time he’s reminded of his first trip through.

It was ages ago. In a world where time wasn’t quite the same.  
The clocks worked well enough, dutifully counting each second as it passed with accuracy.

No, time passed normally there- it just seemed to stutter a lot, hours and years slipping past in mere seconds without any of the occupants noticing.

But he felt that time was off as he stood on the portal frame with his friends. Knew something was horribly wrong when he landed on the other side, alone.

And that was the first time he truly encountered the Watchers.

The first time he felt their eyes on his back as he set to accomplish the task before him- slay the ender dragon alone.  
He felt them staring him down, the hairs on the back of his neck on end as this invisible presence bore down, the thin air of the End turned thick and oppressive.

It was a test with more strings attached than he initially thought.  
The bedrock did not light up with the swirling vortex of galaxies, his singular way back barred from access.

He heard them then, their voices filling the air. Hundreds of them speaking at once in a hundred different languages, each mouth speaking the same words.

Somehow he understood the words anyway.

That the jittery time meant that this world was unstable. That the time skipping wasn’t normal and, given long enough, would tear the world to shreds.  
That his friends were given the same test, but they failed, that the responsibility of saving his world fell to him, that he had to join their ranks.  
He was their only hope.

The world was out of balance, and him stepping up would return it back to normal.

So he did.

It felt...right.  
There was a bone-deep sense of belonging, like the empty pieces around him finally clicked into place and he understood what he was meant to do. What his purpose in life was.

His friends found his old green tunic when they arrived in the world.

Grian watched them all cry.


	3. Welcome Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the radio silence! I got into The Magnus Archives podcast and listened to the 176 episodes currently available within a month. That being said, I am trying to pre-write this fic so it’s more coherent than my last one (which was originally meant to be a oneshot...) so updates are just gonna be “when I feel like it.”  
> I haven’t abandoned this project yet (same with Hitman) but it’s slow-going.

Time ceased to matter.  
So did space.

So did he.

Existing was weird without a body, his mind suddenly thrown into the vastness of the void, filling the empty space.  
He could see everything. Worlds unfurling before him like ribbons, timelines weaving together as people interacted.  
He saw his world, the ribbon it was woven on frayed and broken, barely held together by a few thin threads.

He saw where his own timeline suddenly ceased to exist, the end simply vanishing.  
It wasn’t cut. It wasn’t broken. It just vanished.

And yet, he felt blind, tossed into a role he wasn’t prepared for, and now? Now no one was there to help. He was a drop in the ocean of voices, he didn’t stand out, he didn’t matter.  
Not like he did before.

He could see the space between atoms and distant universes, parallel dimensions and one that ran backwards. He was everything and nothing at the same time and it terrified him.

He’d say his heart ached to have something familiar but he didn’t even know if he had one in the conventional sense anymore. 

_”Why do you ache, little star?”_ The voice emanated from everywhere at once and the desolate feeling was gone, replaced with the comfort of a warm hug.

How was he supposed to answer? _Could_ he answer without a mouth? Clearly something spoke to him, but it was confusing, a muddled mess of piecing together how he heard the words now that he didn’t have ears.  
But still, he felt some compulsion, some force calling him to respond and so he did.

“I’m scared.” Was all he whispered into the void that was also somehow him, but also a swirling mass of countless other beings. “I made my choice but I’m scared of what it means. Is this what existence is going to be forever?”

 _”Forever is a concept we’ve long since forgotten about...Forever.”_ It tested the words as if it were saying them for the first time. _”If you’re scared of forever, I suppose we can let you visit worlds.”_

Grian nodded at the thought and the warm feeling vanished, leaving him alone with a spark of hope burning bright.

Maybe it was a second. Maybe it was a century.  
Time didn’t matter anyway.

But he found himself on a small island all the same, suddenly physical and corporeal and _real_ that he laughed at it all, smiling at the stars that let him have this brief respite, let him feel the wind in his hair, the sea spray against his face. He had a red sweater on. And he was alone on this island, but he found that he didn’t care.  
He had himself back, and that was enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! <3


End file.
